A common sight now
This won’t come as a surprise to most people – according to the Office for National Statistics almost half of UK internet users are going online via mobile phone data connections. This shows a significant growth since 2010 – 45% of people surveyed said they made use of the net while out and about, compared with 31% in 2010.
Unsurprisingly the most rapid growth is among younger people, where 71% of internet-connected 16 to 24-year-olds used mobiles to go online. This survey also includes wireless dongles but I am guessing that the major growth is in smartphones – everyone now appears to have them!
However domestic internet use has also risen with 77% of households now having access to a net connection. This figure is up 4% from the previous year, representing the slowest rate of growth since the ONS survey began in 2006.
Among the 23% of the population who remain offline, half said they “didn’t need the internet.” One imagines this sector of the market is unlikely to make the move soon! These older users, who the government is particularly keen to get connected, appeared to have been relatively untouched by the phenomenon, just 8% of internet users aged over 65 made use of the newer technology.
This is particularly interesting I believe to my generation who grew up being told we would in the future have these abilities – it has taken a while but now we have them. It is something that our kids take for granted, but I am still impressed when I can surf from anywhere on my iPhone (assuming there is a signal)!
